IC cards such as memory cards, are commonly are constructed with a molded plastic body having opposite sides and ends, a combination circuit board and connector that is installed in the body, and top and bottom metallic covers installed at the top and bottom of the body. Such memory cards are especially useful in electronic equipment or devices of very small thickness, such as laptop computers that may have a width and length of 81/2 inches by 11 inches, and a thickness of much less than one inch. Standard JEIDA cards have a thickness of five millimeters, which enables them to be inserted into thin slots of tile electronic device.
The cards often hold a considerable static electric charge, which should be dissipated prior to mating of signal contacts of the card and device. Memory cards are currently provided with grounding contacts at the front of the card that project slightly forward of the rest of the contacts so the card is grounded before the signal contacts are mated. However, a static electric voltage of a few thousand volts can jump a large fraction of an inch, so there is danger that a static discharge can occur between signal contacts, which can harm the system. A static discharge system which provided early discharge of static electricity on a memory card, would be of considerable value.